The clickety-clack is gone on a long stretch of rail in Indianapolis and Johnson County, and soon the wait times at rail crossings will be shortened.

Indiana Rail Road has completed upgrades to a six-mile rail line from West Street near Downtown to Stop 11 Road on the Far Southside, and that means quality-of-life benefits for nearby residents and motorists who cross the track.

“Thanks to the installation of continuously welded rail – quarter-mile strands of rail without joints – the traditional clickety-clack of steel wheels on jointed-rail will be replaced by much quieter passage of each train,” the railroad says.

Moreover, the new rail, cross ties and rock ballast will allow the railroad to increase the speed limit for trains to 30 mph from 10 mph starting July 15. That will reduce the time required for trains to pass road crossings.

A mile-long train will pass a crossing in 2 minutes instead of 6 minutes, the railroad says.

The improvements include rebuilding 10 road crossings in Indianapolis, including ones at West Street, Bluff and Southport roads and Troy, Epler, Sumner, Hanna and Edgewood avenues. The County Line Road and Stop 11 Road crossings will be rebuilt by the end of August.

In Johnson County, the railroad is rebuilding crossings at seven sites.

The rail line improvements cost several million dollars, while the grade crossing work alone cost $1 million.

The privately held Indianapolis-based railroad operates a 500-mile system that hauls the equivalent of 800,000 truckloads of consumer, industrial and energy products each year.